SAN FRANCISCO — NakedSword Chief Executive Tim Valenti, featured in a piece on DailyDot.com, says that adult film studios' dabbling in the independent film industry is “not common at all, but maybe it should be.”
Valenti was remarking about his gay porn studio’s entry with its latest project, “In Their Room: Berlin,” which his studio is streaming for free on its website.
The film, Valenti says, is a “quasi-documentary” that takes an intimate look at the lives of gay Berliners, featuring interviews with them in their homes.
“In Their Room: Berlin” is part of director Travis Matthews’ “In Their Room” series and a follow-up to NakedSword’s “I Want Your Love, also directed by the director perhaps best known on for his production “Interior. Leather Bar.”
In explaining how feature films have benefited the gay adult studio despite the economic malaise in the straight and gay porn biz, Valenti said “people came to see them, and then stayed on to join NakedSword.”
“Memberships to our sites have surged, even if most of it is more traditional porn,” Valenti told DailyDot.com. “So we see broadening of the content as a way to stay ahead in an industry that’s struggling.”
As for streaming a “quasi-documentary” like “In Their Room: Berlin” with a gay porn undertone, Valenti said the film has found success with audiences and that his studio plans to move further into the mainstream film industry by producing more of them that are “honest about sex and sexuality, but aren’t necessarily porn.”
“Ironically, I think it took a porn company to show that an artistically honest film could use sex in a way that wasn’t exploitative or gratuitous,” Valenti said.
Valenti discusses more about NakedSword projects in depth, including the production and distribution of “In Their Room: Berlin,” in XBIZ World’s Presidential Suite Q&A feature in its April 2014 issue.